DU hosted its 28th annual Festival of Nations on Driscoll Bridge and in the Driscoll Ballroom last Saturday, attracting close to 500 people throughout the day.
Attendees included students, staff and families, with as many as 150 individuals at the event at any given time.
The event, organized by the DU International House, included booths from student organizations representing Taiwan, China, Japan, Thailand, Italy, Bolivia, Indonesia, India, Saudi Arabia, France, Israel and others.
There were also booths representing student organizations like Amnesty International, Cherrington Global Scholars, Rotoract Club, Model United Nations, the International Student Organization (ISO) and Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (AIESEC).
Each booth featured food from the country that it represented, artifacts of the culture, informational pamphlets, interactive videos and traditional handicrafts for sale.
Representatives at the booths explained to event guests the origin of native food, holidays and traditional dress, and took questions and contributions.
The festival had several performances, including native dances from China, India and Latin America throughout the afternoon.
Sarah Hillis Kauffman, a member of the planning committee, began working on the Festival of Nations board two years ago, when she received an email looking for volunteers.
“The quarter before I got the email, I was abroad. I really thought this was an opportunity to share my amazing experiences with cultural diversity and international culture,” Kauffman said.
She felt that at a school as internationally involved as DU, it was important to involve domestic students in current international issues as well as bridge the gap between domestic and international students.
“Especially in today’s world, it is really important to expose ourselves to as much cultural flavor as possible,” she said.
According to Kauffman, the festival has not been promoted a lot in the past. However, two or three years ago the university wanted to make a school tradition out of the festival, and created a committee to oversee the marketing and promotion of the event.
Golriz Vazirabadi, the head of the planning committee and USG secretary of internationalization, spoke of the seven planners’ dedication to reaching their goal of promoting cultural awareness and increasing internationalization.
Many of the participating students noticed the difference, including some who were impressed with the number of people in Driscoll at the event.
Others commented that the festival seemed more organized, less crowded and had clearer marketing and information flow than in past years, making the process much easier and more fun for participants.
Aliya Montegomery, a high school junior who came with her sister to see the festival, described it as an “eye-widening experience.” Many cited the opening flag ceremony as a favorite event.
Others saw room for improvement, commenting that many attendees seemed uninterested and indifferent. Others attributed this to the fact that college students may not be carrying cash or realize the small fees for some of the items.
Most attendees, however, were impressed by the turnout and the awareness that the festival brought to the community.
Toto Yao, a junior who has been volunteering with the festival for two years, said that the festival helps international kids meet each other as well as the greater DU community by providing them with a place to share their feelings of homesickness, as well as exchange information and learn about diverse people.
